Just One Shot
by LoveReid
Summary: The bullet may have only struck one of them, but they were both dying... Angst/Whump/Bromance
1. Chapter 1

The disappointing episodes lately keep spurring me to write more. This is a little something I couldn't get out of my head.

Enjoy!

***********************H50**********************

They say that when you know something terrible is about to happen, but there's absolutely nothing you can do to stop it, time slows down.

Steve had never believed this. He'd seen plenty of horrible things happen in his life, and a lot of times he wished that there was something he could have done to prevent it. But not once had time ever slowed down. Because time just didn't slow down. Not for anyone or anything.

Until now.

It was supposed to be a simple take down. Secure the weapons, arrest the men, and be home in time for steak and beer. Steve should've known it was never that simple.

He should've made sure the area was totally clear. He should've seen it coming. He should've been more prepared. He should've reacted faster. There were so many things he should've done. But he didn't.

They'd arrested the perps and were just wrapping everything up when it happened.

One man had somehow evaded capture, and he jumped out from behind a stack of crates in the back of the warehouse. Right near where Danny was standing.

Steve saw him raise his gun and point it directly at Danny. He started to raise his own gun, but he already knew that he would be too late.

A gunshot rang out.

Time slowed down.

"DANNY!" He screamed in desperation as the bullet sent his partner sprawling backwards onto the ground.

It was like a scene straight out of a cheesy cop movie. When the good guy falls backwards in slow motion and you could practically feel their pain as they hit the ground hard.

Only this time it was real. And it wasn't just some cop played by Bruce Willis or Keanu Reeves. It was Danny.

He was running towards his fallen partner before he even saw his own bullet take the man down.

"Danny Danny Danny," he was desperately saying his partners name over and over again as he dropped to his knees beside him. "Please be a vest hit! Come on, please!"

But it couldn't be that easy, could it? It never was.

"No!" Steve shouted in panic as he saw a pool of bright red blood spreading fast across Danny's stomach, staining his light blue shirt.

Two centimeters below the vest. The damn bullet had just missed the vest and instead went straight into his best friends body.

"St- Steve," his partner gasped and moaned as he put firm pressure on the wound. "S-s-stop! Hurts..."

"Shhh don't talk Danno," Steve said as calmly as he could manage. "I need to do this. Just save your breath. I got you buddy. I'm going to roll you over a little and check for an exit wound okay?"

Steve bit back tears as Danny's moans turned into pained screams whenever he was moved. He couldn't afford to fall apart right now. Not with Danny's life on the line like this.

He did a quick check of Danny's back. No exit wound. The bullet was still stuck inside Danny somewhere. Doing god knows what damage.

"Steve!" He heard Kono shout as she ran up to him with Chin and Lou right behind her. "What happened?! How is he?"

"It's bad Kono!" Steve replied, rolling Danny back over and adding more pressure on the heavily bleeding bullet hole, even as his partner moaned and writhed desperately beneath his hands. "He needs help now!"

"We already called an ambulance," Chin told him. "It's three minutes out."

"You hear that bud?" He whispered in Danny's ear. "Help is coming. You just hold on for me."

"Grace," Danny gasped out pitifully. "Steve... Grace!"

"Grace is fine Danno," Steve reassured him. "She'll be fine and so will you. I promise to bring her to you as soon as I can."

"G-Grace..." Danny rasped again before his entire body sagged and went limp beneath Steve's hands.

"Danny!" Steve shouted in alarm.

Kono immediately put her hand to Danny's throat, checking his pulse. "He's fading!" She said desperately. "Where the hell is that ambulance?!"

As if on cue, the ambulance pulled up at that second and two paramedics immediately jumped out. Before Steve even had a chance to blink, Danny was being hooked up to monitors, oxygen, and IV's and quickly moved onto a stretcher and loaded into the ambulance. Steve tried, but failed to keep up with all the medical jargon that was being tossed around by the medics. He didn't even need to understand what they were saying to know how bad this was.

"We need to go now," a medic told him. "He needs to get to the hospital. Fast."

"I'm coming with you," Steve replied, climbing into the back of the ambulance and settling himself as close to his unconscious partner as he possibly could.

"We're going to Tripler," the driver announced. "It's the closest hospital."

"We'll meet you there Steve!" Kono shouted after them.

They closed the door and then they were off in a flash of lights and sirens.

Everything was happening too fast. Time was moving too fast. Almost as if it was trying to catch up after slowing down earlier.

Steve clutched his partners limp hand tightly and moved forward until he was right by his ear.

"It's going to be okay Danny," he promised, even though that was so far from the truth at the moment. "I've got you. I can't lose you so you have to be strong for me okay? For Grace too. We need you buddy. We need you to fight."

Steve leaned back and felt the tears he'd been holding back start to slip down his face as he took in his partners ghostly pale complexion. He could hear Danny's raspy and panting breaths from beneath the oxygen mask as he struggled to draw in enough air to fill his lungs.

This was bad... This was so bad. Danny could not die. Steve couldn't let him go.

"I'm so sorry Danno..." Steve whispered in despair. "I am so damn sorry."

The bullet may have only struck one of them, but they were both dying.

********************H50*********************

Here's the thing... I kind of intend this to be a one shot. I know I usually wrap up my stories nice and neatly with a bow, but I like the idea of leaving this story open ended and letting you guys come up with your own endings.

But if this really annoys all of you, I may be persuaded to write another chapter. I'm not making any promises but maybe. I've just got a lot of work to finish this week.

Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading :)


	2. Chapter 2

I wasn't sure if I was going to write this, but once again you guys convinced me otherwise. Didn't want to leave you all annoyed at me :)

Thanks so much for the reviews on the first half!

Enjoy!

************************H50**********************

Remember when he said that he didn't believe in time slowing down?

He was wrong. Again.

Steve was pacing the waiting room frantically. It had been seven hours since Danny had been shot and rushed into surgery. They hadn't heard anything since then, no matter who he threatened.

Seven hours of silence. Seven hours of nothing but his steadily dwindling sanity.

He could feel the worried looks of Chin, Kono and Lou on him as he moved around like a caged lion. They'd tried to get him to talk, but he had nothing to say.

They'd messed up. He messed up. And now Danny was paying the price for it.

He hadn't even called Grace yet. She was in Las Vegas with her mother and brother visiting Stan. He felt bad about leaving her in the dark like this, but what was he supposed to say?

_Hey there Gracie! Hope you're having fun. Just wanted to let you know that a weapons bust went bad today and your father is now fighting for his life in the hospital. So sorry we weren't more careful! Okay that's about it. Stay out of the casino's! Bye. _

He didn't think that would go over well. So instead he took the coward's way out and decided not to call until he had news on Danny's condition.

If Danny didn't make it... Well then Steve McGarrett would be so broken not even THAT phone call could possibly make him any worse.

Danny once told him that he liked fixing broken toys. He'd just smiled and agreed at the time, but maybe he should've told Danny that it was all because of him. Steve liked to fix broken toys sure, because HE had been a broken toy. And Danny had fixed him.

Without Danny around, Steve wouldn't be able to fix anyone. Especially not himself.

But back to the problem at hand...

Steve looked up when he heard the door to the waiting room open. A doctor was walking towards them, with a stern look on his face and specks of blood covering his scrubs.

Time slowed down once again.

It was like Steve was watching the doctor approach from under water. His hearing was muffled and everything around him seemed to be distorted and slow.

"Steve!"

He jumped when someone shouted his name. "What? What happened?" He asked.

"I've been calling you for almost a minute Steve!" Kono said in alarm.

"Are you alright?" Chin asked.

"I'm... I'm fine," Steve replied. He turned away from his friends and looked at the doctor who was now watching him warily.

"Are you sure Commander?" The doctor asked.

"No," Steve said honestly. "I'm not fine. But if you have good news on my partner doc, I can assure you that I will be."

"Well then, I'll get right to it," he replied. "Detective Williams made it through surgery."

The relief that practically oozed out of the four people in front of him was palpable. It didn't take a genius to see how close these people obviously were to his patient, or how tight knit this task force was.

"It was touch and go for a while," he continued. "He lost a lot of blood, but we've been steadily giving him transfusions and with a lot of rest, I expect him to make a full recovery."

"He's going to be alright?" Steve asked, needing to hear it again. Maybe a thousand more times.

"Yes Commander, he's going to be just fine," the doctor replied.

"Thank you so much Doc," Steve said, shaking his hand.

"Of course," he replied. "If you'll follow me, I'll take you to him. He's in room 207. He'll be asleep for a while yet though."

"I actually need to make a phone call..." Steve said. He couldn't hold off any longer now that he knew how Danny was. Grace would never forgive him if she found out. "You guys go see him. I'll be staying with him tonight anyway."

Steve gave the doctor his very best Navy SEAL death stare, almost daring him to bring up visiting hour regulations.

The doctor raised his hands in defeat. "No argument here," he said. "I've heard all about you Five-0 members and your immunity and means. The last thing I need tonight is a call from the Governor."

Steve laughed and thanked the doctor again before he went to find a quiet place to make the phone call he really wasn't looking forward to making.

"Hey Uncle Steve!" Grace answered on the third ring. "I tried calling Danno a little while ago but he didn't answer. Did you break his phone again?"

"Hey Grace!" Steve replied, trying to sound as cheerful as possible. He might have fooled a lot of people, but definitely not Danny Williams' daughter. She saw right through him.

"Oh no..." She said immediately. "What happened? Is Danno okay?"

"He's fine now baby!" Steve quickly assured her. "He was hurt in an accident during a case today... But I just spoke to his doctor and he said that Danno is going to be just fine."

Steve's heart broke when he heard the tears muffling Grace's voice.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"I promise sweetheart," Steve replied. "He'll be home by the time you get back in a couple of weeks! He can't wait to see you. He talks about how much he misses you every single day."

"I miss him too..." She replied. "Can I talk to him please?"

"He's sleeping right now Gracie, but I'll tell you what. As soon as he wakes up, I'll have him call you, okay? That sound good?" Steve asked.

"Yeah Uncle Steve..." She replied. "You'll take care of him for me, won't you? Until I come back?"

"You know I will," Steve said. "You know I love our Danno."

Steve smiled when he heard Grace laugh. He knew he couldn't help her the way talking to her father would, but he'd always do whatever he could for her. Especially when Danny couldn't do it himself. He loved her too much to leave her hurting.

"Danno loves you too Uncle Steve," she replied. "And so do I."

"I love you more," Steve said. "Can I talk your mom for a second?"

"Yes," Grace said. "Don't forget to have Danno call me! Bye Uncle Steve!

"Of course Gracie," he said. "I'll see you soon!"

Steve quickly explained the situation and then calmed down a frantic Rachel before hanging up the phone. He thought about calling Danny's parents, but it was the middle of the night in Jersey, and he didn't want to worry them. He'd have Danny call them when he was feeling up to it.

Besides, this call had taken longer than he thought and he was now really itching to see his partner.

He made his way to room 207 and found the team all sitting around Danny's bed.

"Has he woken up?" Steve asked.

"Not yet," Kono replied. "They don't think he'll wake up until the morning."

"How'd Grace take it?" Lou asked.

"Like a champ," Steve replied. "She's a tough one, our Gracie."

"She's her fathers daughter alright," Chin agreed.

Steve looked around at his team. "Listen, it's late and you all look tired. Do you want to head home and get some sleep? I'll be here with him all night."

"Are you sure?" Kono asked. "I can stay with you."

"Nah, it's okay," Steve replied. "I'll be fine here. Go home to your fiancé."

Kono smiled. "If you're sure," she said. "I'll be back tomorrow morning though!"

"We all will," Lou added.

Steve nodded. "I know you will. Bring us some food, would you please?"

"You got it," Chin replied. "Anything else?"

"I could use a change of clothes if you don't mind," Steve said. "Maybe bring one for Danny too. We all know how much he hates wearing hospital scrubs. I believe last time he said something like 'it's just an excuse for all these nurses to ogle at my fine ass Steven!'"

They all laughed at that as they made their way to the door.

"Sounds like something Danny would say. Food and clothes, got it!" Chin said on his way out.

Kono leaned down and gave Danny a kiss before she turned to follow Chin and Lou.

"See you tomorrow boss!" She called on her way out.

"Good night guys," he said.

As soon as they were gone, he sat down in the chair next to his partners bed and grabbed onto his hand.

Steve took a good look at his best friend. He was pale and way too still for Steve's liking, but more importantly, he was on the mend. He would be okay. And now, so would Steve.

"Hey bud..." He said. "I knew you'd be okay. You're the strongest man I know Danny Williams. And if you're somehow hearing this, I'll deny if forever, but I just need to get this out. I need you buddy. You scared the hell out of me today when I thought I was going to lose you... Because I can't lose you. I've lost so many people in my life already. But losing you... I'd never be able to recover from that Danny. Not you. After all these years, and everything we've been through... It's like I don't know how to be myself without you anymore. So no matter what happens, I need you to always fight your way back. Not just to me, but to Grace and the rest of our ohana. We all need you. So you just focus on getting better and I'll take care of the rest. I love you Danno."

He took a deep breath and leaned back in the chair, enjoying the beeping of Danny's heart monitor, letting him know that despite the odds, his partner was still alive. Just as he should be.

And time moved steadily on.

***********************H50******************

And there it is! Btw how amazing was this weeks episode? I usually don't like episodes when Danny just disappears but I thought Kono's story was so amazing this week! Loved the flashbacks too! And that great ohana moment before all hell broke loose was adorable!

Can't wait for the season finale too! I'm coming up with some new stories to write to help me get through hiatus ;)

Anyway, so how'd you like part 2? I'm a little nervous about it... Not sure why!

Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading! :)


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